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ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic, and ensuing physical distancing measures, poses challenges for researchers in the field of interprofessional care. Pandemic management has highlighted the centrality of interprofessional working to effective healthcare delivery during crises. It is essential to find ways to maintain interprofessional research that has commenced, while also designing research to capture important learning from pandemic management and response. However, it also creates opportunities for new research projects and novel research designs. This discussion paper explores ways of adapting existing research methodologies and outlines potential avenues for new research. Specifically, considerations to bear in mind when designing interprofessional research during the pandemic include research ethics and integrity, research design, data collection methods, research opportunities, implications and limitations. Interprofessional research can continue to make a valuable contribution in informing global responses to COVID-19 and in planning for future global health crises. We call for, insofar as possible, for interprofessional research to continue to be developed during this time.
Additional resources
Hewson, C., Vogel, C.M. & Laurent, D. (2016). Internet research methods (2nd ed.). Los Angeles: SAGE.
Jowett, A. (2020, April 20). Carrying out qualitative research under lockdown – Practical and ethical considerations. London School of Economics Impact Blog. https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2020/04/20/carrying-out-qualitative-research-under-lockdown-practical-and-ethical-considerations/
Lupton, D. (2020). Doing fieldwork in a pandemic (crowd-sourced document). https://docs.google.com/document/d/1clGjGABB2h2qbduTgfqribHmog9B6P0NvMgVuiHZCl8/edit?ts=5e88ae0a#
Salmons, J. (2020). When the “field” is online: Qualitative data collection [webinar]. NVivo QSR International. https://go.nvivobyqsr.com/online-field
Declaration of interest
The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this article.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Michael Sy
Dr Michael Sy is an Associate Professor at the National Teacher Training Centre for the Health Professions, University of the Philippines Manila. He is an occupational therapist by profession. Apart from his research and works in occupational therapy, occupational science, justice health, and health professions education, he is also actively championing interprofessional education and practice in his country through the Philippine Interprofessional Education and Collaboration Network.
Noreen O’Leary
Noreen O’Leary is a Ph.D. candidate at the School of Allied Health, University of Limerick, and is a qualified speech and language therapist. Her Ph.D. dissertation is in the area of interprofessional education.
Shobhana Nagraj
Dr Shobhana Nagraj is an MRC Clinical Research Training Fellow at the University of Oxford, with a professional background in primary care and paediatric surgery. She is currently completing her DPhil in the field of global maternal child health, and is involved in the design and delivery of complex interventions involving interprofessional healthcare teams in low resource settings globally. Shobhana has been a member of the UK Centre for the Advancement of Interprofessional Education research group since 2015, and is interested in interprofessional education (IPE) and workforce planning, interprofessional clinical skills, and simulation and human factors in IPE.
Alla El-Awaisi
Dr Alla El-Awaisi is currently the Assistant Dean for Student Affairs at the College of Pharmacy and QU Health Chair of the Interprofessional Education program. Dr Alla received her Master of Pharmacy degree from Strathclyde University in Glasgow (UK), MSc in Prescribing Science from the Robert Gordon University (UK) and PhD in Interprofessional Education and Collaborative Practice from the Robert Gordon University (UK). Her research expertise lies in the area of interprofessional education and collaborative practice, patient safety, and medical and pharmacy education. She has published numerous articles in peer-reviewed journals.
Veronica O’Carroll
Dr Veronica O'Carroll is a Lecturer and Registered Nurse (Adult) in the School of Medicine, University of St Andrews. Since 2009, she has been involved in the design and implementation of interprofessional education (IPE) and interprofessional research in the academic and practice learning environment. She is a Board Member of the UK Centre for the Advancement of Interprofessional Education (CAIPE) and is the lead of CAIPE’s research group.
Andreas Xyrichis
Dr Andreas Xyrichis is a Board Member of the UK Centre for the Advancement of Interprofessional Education, the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Interprofessional Care, and steering committee member of the King’s Centre for Team-based Practice & Learning in Health Care. His work focusses on strengthening health service delivery and organisation worldwide through interprofessional education and team-based practice initiatives.